these verses are written above the sinking moon
by le doux frisson
Summary: Series of oneshots, vignettes, drabbles for challenges, fun, etc. Second chapter: On the porch - "Tonight, the stars are dreadfully bright in the broad Resembool sky." Al and Winry have a short conversation. Includes spoilers for both anime & manga.
1. The Ball

**#1**

**Characters:** Winry, Riza

**Pairings:** Edward/Winry, Roy/Riza

**Prompts/Keywords:** Clothes shopping, ogling, comparison, mentorship, pencil sharpener (challenge by fearthegoddess)

**A/N:** Winry's really OOC and I can't write Riza at all, but I tried, so there. Oh, and I don't own Hagaren.

"Can't decide what to wear, hmm?"

It's Riza talking, Winry realizes as she fights the terrifying numbness that covers her mind and body when she is once again reminded, this time not by her own mind but by Riza, of what she is supposed to do tomorrow night. And Riza says- What does she say again? Oh yes, the clothes...

"Riza-san! Um, yeah, I can't, not really... I mean, I've never been to a ball or any other formal event. There are annual celebrations in Risembool, of course, but nothing this fancy so... I don't really know what to wear to an event like this." She doesn't need to add that she doesn't have any formal dresses fitting for the occasion, the elder and definitely wiser woman probably knows it already.

There is a pleading look in her eyes, Riza observes as she watches the younger female fidget. She has a good guess as to what worries Winry. It's not the girl's fault, she wasn't raised as a high-society lady. Riza knows of her lifestory and is well aware of what kind of education a girl without her parents has to grow up without. She can symphatize with her; her own mother had died when she was very young, either. The reminder of a smile tugs at her lips and she tilts her head to the side.

"Then we will choose together. Has Edward told you about the dress code?"

Winry rolls her eyes. _She must be joking._

"Do you really think Edward would? He barely managed to invite me to the ball, let alone tell me about the dress code."

Riza chuckles (Winry subconsciously deems it to be a nice sound) and her attention drifts to the clothes lying on the bed. There is a creamy pink frilly dress much more suited to a birthday party, a green summer dress with very lovely flower patterns, a black one with a lower cut than the others which is not appropriate at all and a few more like these three in different colours. Riza stifles a sigh and turns to the girl.

"These are not appropriate for the ball. We'll have to go shopping for you."

Winry pales. Riza leaves it at that, seeing the girl has no objections, save for the sudden paleness. She can't help but ask:

"Are you okay, Winry?"

Riza's eyes widen as the girl in front of her suddenly starts to cry.

* * *

><p>"I'm very grateful to you, Riza-san. I really am. I don't know how to thank you, how-how can I show my gratitude?"<p>

"You can thank me by wrenching some sense to those boys's skulls and visiting more often. They like having you around. And it's obvious that Edward likes you a lot more than a normal friend should."

The girl immediately turns beet-red and starts to stammer her objections, but Riza stops her protests with an unusually soft look on her face and raises a hand.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed it, Winry. You are a smart girl, surely you understand the affection beneath his rashness."

"He asked me to go with him as friends, Riza-san, what do you understand from _that_?" The girl looks beaten and Riza cannot help but feel a wave of irritation flare in her chest. Edward is an idiot, just like the rest of his gender. He most definitely is. Just because he cannot find the courage to accept his feelings towards the automail mechanic and ask for her hand, he leads her in the wrong way. Nonetheless, the spark of irritation is immediately thrown a bucket of cold water, though, when Riza understands what Edward is actually aiming to do: He wants to protect Winry from his dangerous life. By pushing her away, he will make sure that she is safe.

That stupid boy. He and the Colonel are more alike than they would like to admit. Riza knows the similarity between them doesn't end with this particular trait: They are both obstinate, obscenely foul-mouthed when they want to be (although that is more often the case with Edward than Roy), unbelievably lazy at times, inexplicably- Riza sighes and picks up the pencil sharpener and a pencil from the table (so she can make a list of the clothes they bought and bill Edward for them), imagining the pencil she is opening is the Colonel's and Edward's heads. Her imagination is quite rusty, she realizes, when her frustration catches up with her.

"Men are idiots, Winry. Don't ever forget this fact."

Winry blinks and nods at the older woman, her shoulders not as tense and her expression not as defeated as before. Riza can't help but think that this pretty girl would look even prettier if she smiles.

* * *

><p>Riza has never been an intruding person, she takes personal and private matters very seriously. Still, as she stands by the young alchemist, whose eyes are glued to the girl who looks stunning in the handsome blue dress chosen for her by Riza, the elder woman feels the need to inquire Winry's sudden burst to tears. But of course, she cannot ask Edward Elric. He is too busy ogling the girl, anyway. Alphonse Elric would be the better option, had it not been for the fact that he's not here due to certain... <em>issues<em> with his physical health. More like the issue that comes with being a bodiless soul trapped in an armour. Riza stifles a sigh. It seems like she will have to deal with an ogling Edward, after all.

As she makes her way towards the intoxicated alchemist, who is famous for also his ability to be _astonishingly incapable_ of holding his liquor other than his many prodigial achievements in alchemical field, Riza cannot help but wonder if she is doing the right thing by asking Edward. But it's too late to think of that now, for she is right next to him. She doesn't waste any time.

"Edward, may I ask a question?"

The addressed alchemist is still staring at Winry Rockbell who is busy talking to a Xingese diplomat's son. The empty wine glass in his good hand is nearing the breaking point and he doesn't even notice Riza is there until she elbows him sharply.

"Ow! What the fu- Second Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

Riza repeats her words, awaiting a response. Edward nods curtly, averting his eyes to her face, albeit reluctantly.

"Sure."

"Good. You see, Edward, I took Winry to shopping the other day-"

"Thank you very much for that, Lieutenant! If you didn't, Al and I would have to go with her to that awful place to carry all the bags she'd make us carry and I wouldn't feel my hands for hours afterwards! I don't know what you women find in clothes and wrenches and all that stuff, does spending more and more money give you some sick satisfaction or somethi- Ow! That hurt! What was that for?"

With a sigh, Riza puts the hand that punched Edward in the stomach to her forehead and once again becomes her usual calm self, thus succeeding in eradicating all the plans to castrate the boy before her without getting court-martialed for harming another officer.

"Edward, it is very disrespectful of you to talk like that about women, let that be an advice to you and keep that in mind, please." Edward gulps, understanding the threat laced within the so-called advice. "As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, I took Winry to shopping the other day and her reaction to that was quite... astonishing. Is there any particular reason for that?"

A slight frown finds its place on the short blond's handsome features, and his expression darkens.

"What kind of an 'astonishing reaction' are we talking about?"

Riza hesitates.

"It was..."

All signs of intoxication vanishes from his face.

"Please tell me."

"She burst to tears, Edward. I worry about her emotional state, especially because you are such an oblivious fool."

He blushes immediately, incoherent words leaving his mouth in a rush, but Riza stops him before he drowns in his spitted words.

"That matter is to be discussed between you two, Edward. You don't owe me any explanation, you owe _her_ one. Inviting her as a friend, what were you thinking? That you wanted her safe, and that if she is away from you she will be safe as you wished? That is selfish of you." Riza pauses, takes a breath and continues her lecture to the bewildered boy. "But I digress. My original question was about her emotional state."

"She... You took her to shopping, right? Her mother used to do that. Aunty Sara took her to the city at least twice a year, occasionally to Central. I don't think Winry went shopping for clothes ever since her mum passed away. I mean, sure she did, but not with a woman to assist her, I s'pose. The old woman, Granny Pinako that is, wouldn't go with Winry to shopping, she couldn't leave the house and the shop alone."

"I see."

A silence settles between the two right then. It is by no means an uncomfortable one, perhaps a bit awkward as they both focus on their thoughts about the young mechanic. It is Edward who breaks it.

"Thank you, Hawkeye."

"For what?"

"For Winry."

Sending a firm glare to the young alchemist, Riza speaks:

"She deserves to be happy, Fullmetal. Don't you upset her."

She doesn't need to see his face or hear his reply to know that he will try his best.


	2. On the Porch

**#2**

**Characters:** Alphonse, Winry

**Pairings:** Edward/Winry, Alphonse/Winry

**Prompts/Keywords:** As challenged by WamprickNyx, must have the words: pondering, penetrate, porch, parsimonious, pit

**A/N:** Al's kinda OOC, yes, I know. But that's what I managed to write, so deal with it.

He likes sitting on the porch at nights like this. The broad Resembool sky is full of bright stars. The cold weather reminds him of the days he has spent being an armour (although he wasn't actually an armour, his soul was bound to it) with no ability to feel the substances beneath his fingers nor taste and smell the delicious apple pies that Gracia Hughes (and sometimes Winry) makes. It reminds him of those lonely and crowded days - he had had a purpose then, what more is there now? He doesn't have anything else he wants to achieve, anywhere he wants to travel to; though maybe Xing would be a good option if he ever wanted to travel again. Then again, he feels too exhausted to travel anymore.

Besides, traveling makes him remember his days with his brother, his days of searching for an old legend: the Philosopher's Stone. Al sometimes doesn't want to recall any of those days; dwelling on the memories of an old, almost non-existent lifetime causes a hollowish feeling to erupt in his now flesh and bone chest and he feels like breaking something, crushing anything he gets in his hands. It's a violent feeling, one that Al is not familiar with - he has always been gentle, it is Ed who is the rash brat of the brothers. Alphonse is more like their mother and Edward, though he would never ever accept this fact and would loathe it with every fiber of his being, more like their father. A small smile makes it to his impassive face and he fixes his eyes to the grass filled lands before him. He then hears her voice:

"It's cold, Al. What are you doing out here, you'll freeze to death!"

He graces her with a small smile.

"You are exaggerating, Winry. It's not that cold."

She snorts, as expected from her. Winry has never been ladylike, unless there are people around who expect her to be and even then she doesn't do a very good job. He stifles a chuckle and turns to face his childhood friend and sweetheart. The sight that graces his eyes momentarily takes his breath away.

Winry is in a blue sundress, although it is nighttime now and its chill is starting to leak through the pores of their skin. The colour of the dress compliments her eyes, very much so, and he finds, to both his dismay and sudden nervousness, that he cannot take his eyes off of her petite form. He wonders absentmindedly if this is how Ed felt everytime he saw her in a dress. He pities his brother now, for he is away and unlikely to ever return. It's not as if Ed can just pop here on a hilltop out of the blue and while a desperate part of him (and _her_, he knows, from her desperate cries and silent sobs whenever she's visited by nightmares) wishes his brother actually could do that, Al knows that fate is parsimonius, it doesn't like to give as much as it likes to take. It took Winry's parents, their mum, then Ed and who knows who it'll take next? Al has a fair guess as to whom it might be: Winry's old and frail grandmother Pinako. Then they will be truly alone, him and Winry, alone within their own brands of loneliness. He shivers at the thought. Winry doesn't miss it.

"You are shivering, mister, so obviously it _is_ that cold. Stop being such an idiot and get inside. You are _so_ like Ed-"

She stops. She _said_ his name, gods, _his_ name. He can imagine what might be going inside her head now, what emotions might be swirling and racing to take control of her. He senses her tears before he sees them. The next second, she is in his arms, crying silently. He rocks her gently, murmuring sweet and impossible scenarios to her ear about Ed coming back, scenarios that have no chance of coming true. He's not coming back, most definitely because he _can't_. Al knows his brother wouldn't give up no matter what, so the only reason for his absence must be that he can't find a way back. Something in the pit of his stomach clenches tightly; what if Edward is- Winry, as if sensing what he's thinking, tightens her arms' grip around his neck. It's her turn to comfort now, to send away all the scary possibilities that pondering about this particular subject tortures his mind with. He tightens his grip too, and they stay like that for minutes until she speaks.

"We should get inside. Granny's probably gone to bed, we should too. We'll get sick if we stay any longer. C'mon Al."

Her voice is a bit hoarse from the sobbing but he doesn't mind. It sounds like the most beautiful melody in the world to him. He wonders how and when he became such a lovesick idiot like Ed is _(was)_. The thought makes him grimace, for the possibility of Winry returning his feelings is near zero. Winry tugs at his arm and he returns to the real world, to the world where he feels so lonely in a house of three (four, counting Den). In this world, his brother doesn't exist nor can he return from wherever he's gone. Alphonse Elric, who has come to accept this, feels the loneliest at nights like this.

Tonight, the stars are dreadfully bright in the broad Resembool sky. He hopes wherever Ed is, he can see stars as bright as those, too.


End file.
